Gayle King is clearing things up following the immediate and swift backlash of her latest interview about Kobe Bryant.
The CBS This Morning host recently came under fire after her own network teased an excerpt of a sit-down with WNBA star Lisa Leslie where the two women discussed the late 41-year-old NBA star’s legacy on-and-off the court. However, fans have found the clip disrespectful because King appears to grill Leslie about Bryant’s 2003 rape accusation.
Related: Kobe’s Family Releases Second Statement — Slamming An ‘Inaccurate’ Story!
First, see the viral video for yourself (below):
.@WNBA legend @LisaLeslie told @GayleKing that Kobe Bryant's legacy is "not complicated" for her despite his 2003 rape accusation.
"I don't think it's something that we should keep hanging over his legacy." https://t.co/qj6MVvOaqX pic.twitter.com/9qtVORobLO
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) February 4, 2020
As you’ll likely recall, a 19-year-old female hotel concierge accused the Los Angeles Lakers star of raping her in 2003; the case was later settled out of court in 2005 after the alleged victim refused to testify. Critics argued the topic was in poor taste as the world continues to mourn Bryant who was among nine that perished in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on January 26.
Gayle Explains It All…
Taking to her Instagram account on Thursday morning, King addressed the criticism of her question:
“I’ve been up reading the comments about the interview I did with Lisa Leslie about Kobe Bryant. I know that if I had only seen the clip that you saw, I’d be extremely angry with me too. I am mortified, I am embarrassed and I am very angry.”
The 65-year-old then slammed her network for essentially throwing her to the wolves when they posted her inquiry completely “out of context.” She continued:
“Unbeknownst to me, my network put up a clip from a very wide ranging interview, totally taken out of context and when you see it that way, it’s very jarring. It’s jarring to me. I didn’t even know anything about it. I started getting calls, ‘What the hell are you doing? Why did you say this? What is happening?’ I did not know what people were talking about.”
Oprah Winfrey‘s BFF said she was advised to let just this outrage blow over but she insisted on setting the record straight to viewers:
“I really want people to understand what happened here and how I’m feeling about it. I believe that Lisa was OK with the interview and I felt really good about the interview.”
She went on to explain why the sensitive topic was brought up in the first place:
“Yes, we talked about that court case because that court case has also come up. And I wanted to get Lisa’s take on it as a friend who knew him well, what she thought, where that should stand.”
Gayle even praised Leslie for her take on the matter:
“It was very powerful when she looked me in the eye…to say it’s time for the media to leave it alone and to back off. During the course of the interview, I asked follow up questions because I wanted to make sure that her position and perspective were very clear.”
The Emmy winner said, overall, she felt the discussion with Leslie went well — but CBS seemingly set her up for failure by turning their chat into a clickbait-y moment:
“For the network to take the most salacious part, when taken out of context, and put it up online for people who didn’t see the whole interview is very upsetting to me. That’s something I am going to have to deal with with them. There will be a very intense discussion about that.”
She also opened up about her own grief over Kobe’s sudden and tragic passing:
“I have been with Kobe Bryant on many social occasions. He was very kind and very warm to me. I felt that we had a friendly relationship. I too am mourning his loss just like everybody else. I still am shocked by it. It’s tragic and untimely and the last thing I would want to do is disparage him at this particular time.”
We think it’s worth checking out the full interview here to get a better idea of the big picture:
Perezcious readers, do U think it was wrong for Gayle to ask that question? And, thoughts on the way things played out online afterward?
[Image via WENN/Avalon/Instar]
